WWI Timeline

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June 28

July 28

July 30

August 1

08/01/1914

France mobilizes troops; Germany declares war on Russia.

April 22

04/22/1915

Battle of Ypres: First use of Chlorine gas by the Germans

May 3

05/03/1915

Surgoon Lt. Col. John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

May 7

05/07/1915

The Louisiana is sunk by a German U-Boat

September 15

09/15/1915

The British use the first ever tanks in war in the battle of Delville Wood. Their main purpose is to clear brush and other defenses from no-mans-land.

September 18

09/18/1915

Kiaser Wilhelm suspends unrestricted warfare due to international outrage. He did this to attempt to keep the USA out of war but it hinders Germany's ability to keep supplies out of France and Britain.

April 29

04/29/1916

Surrender of British Troops at the Siege of Kut in Mesopotamia

Month of January

01/1917

Britain's Royal Navy Intercepts the Zimmerman note

February 1

02/01/1917

Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare in European waters. This is one of the reasons for the United States to enter the war

April 6

04/06/1917

United States Congress declares war on Germany

May 18

05/18/1917

Selective Service Act is passed by congress authorizing a draft. Wilson signs the bill into law

June 15

06/15/1917

US passes the Espionage Act

March 3

03/03/1918

Germany and signs a peace treaty with the new Bolshevik government in Russia.

August 8

08/08/1918

100 Days offensive begins

September 12

09/12/1918

The Battle of St. Mihiel, when 300,000 American troops under the command of General John J. Pershing attacks the German lines in the first solo American offensive of the Great War.